Witness to History in B-24 Liberator Recalls Flying around Nuclear Plume

NORTH CAPE MAY – Retired Air Force Reserve Capt. Joseph Catanoso was a witness to history Aug. 6, 1945. It is a history that the world has spent decades trying not to repeat.
On that day in the life of a B-24 Liberator flight engineer, Catanoso saw the first of two nuclear attacks conducted in the history of mankind.
Catanoso’s heavy bomber, called “Puddle Jumper II,” had been flying missions against targets such as Marcus Island, Chi Chi Jima, Truk, China, and Japan in the months just prior to the end of the war.
Catanoso flew 20 such missions before his service ended in August 1945. Born in South Philadelphia in 1925, his family moved to Wildwood when he was 7 years old. He stayed there for the rest of his life until 10 days ago when he moved into Victoria Manor in Lower Township.
He pointed to pictures of his two wives that he survives while explaining how blessed he was to have had such wonderful women in his life.
Catanoso had been drafted into the Army while in high school in 1943. Immediately he stated his preference for the Army Air Force. After basic training in North Carolina, and months of aircrew training in California, he found himself in the Pacific theater assigned to the “best bomber crew in the Pacific.” 
As the war progressed across the Pacific, Catanoso kept moving from base to base as Japan’s stranglehold on its island conquests continued to loosen back towards Japan itself.
By Aug. 6, 1945 the war was clearly winding down. On that date Catanoso’s B-24 left its base on Okinawa for the 10-hour flight to bomb the city of Nagasaki, where the bomber dropped tons of conventional bombs on the port area of the city that would, days later, sustain the same nuclear devastation that Hiroshima sustained on this very day.
After dropping its bomb load on Nagasaki, the crew saw a huge cloud of smoke rising up in the air in the distance, near their designated return route.
The radioman called base to find out what was in their path, and they were tersely told “Don’t fly through that area…it’s full of radiation.” 
Nothing more was said. Later, they learned what they had witnessed as they were assigned to fly over the city (but not too close) to photograph the resulting damage.
Catanoso recalled that his crew, captained by “the best pilot” 1st Lt. Guy Harris, and “the best co-pilot” Flight Officer Olin Evans, were a tight-knit group who never had a real accident or crash except for one time when the nose gear collapsed on landing, sending the aircraft skidding off the runway – into the mud.  Although Catanoso received an Air Medal, he did not suffer a scratch throughout his time in combat.
A large photo of his crew and the “Puddle Jumper II” hangs in his new apartment as testimony to the strong bond that still exists among those remarkable young men, even though Catanoso is the last surviving member of his crew.
To contact Jim McCarty, email jmccarty@cmcherald.com.